After Erin picked through the wreckage for what felt like an hour, she finally found the key. It was half eaten away by the acid.
Erin cringed, "ooh…shit… Scooter's gonna kill me…"
"Hate to be you," Lilith laughed.
"Shut up."
Erin got back on her bike, "well, I guess I can make another one. And Mad Mel is dead, so I guess that's not too bad…"
She groaned and banged her head against Lady. Now that she thought of it, when she got back Helena Pierce was going to want an explanation on how Mad Mel got the key in the first place. She was not looking forward to that conversation at all. Worse, Erin was certain that Pierce called Zed about leaving the clinic.
… Erin really didn't want to know what Dr. Zed would do if he found out.
Erin briefly entertained the idea of staying away from New Haven, she could still scavenge parts from destroyed runners and steal from bandits, but it's what she's been doing for the past few days and it's gotten her nowhere, rather it was part of what got her into this mess to begin with. Then to top it all off she had to scratch 'I am a fucking cunt' into a monster truck. Rather she shouldn't have even stepped in Lucky's in the first place. She should change her name from Erin Ryder to Erin Makes Bad Choices.
She did a sigh and lifted her head when she heard the sound of the runner's engines turning on. Oh well, she'd been away from the clinic for too long, and that Claptrap was too easily overwhelmed to take care of anything.
New Haven wasn't pretty, although Roland didn't expect it to look pretty. The town looked as though it was built from the scrap and junk that surrounded it. It was however a lot livelier than Fyrestone, where everyone, save only a small handful of people, remained indoors at all times. The town of Fyrestone had been terrorized by bandit attacks for almost half a year, and he could tell that everyone was afraid to go outside. After they defeated Sledge, he hoped that the town would have an easier time going about their day.
He watched as Erin parked her bike at the entrance of the town. She took a deep breath, murmured something to herself and walked up to a table, where a young man covered in mechanical oil wearing a cap was sitting.
"Hey Scooter… Funny thing…"
"The key was destroyed wasn't it?"
She nodded, "Sorry…"
Scooter sighed, folded his arms, and shook his head, "E, you're lucky we're friends or I'd have your hide tied to the back of one of my runners with your cute little face draggin' across the ground."
Erin cringed as he leaned back in his chair, "I'm letting you off the hook this one time, but only because Miss Pierce wanted to talk to you about the whole situation you caused."
Roland could see the color drain from her face.
"She knows? Shit, I was wondering why the way to Fyrestone wouldn't open for me."
He nodded his head toward the second closest building, "go on now, don't keep her waitin'."
Mordecai chuckled under his breath when she walked into the building as though she was on a funeral march. Once she was gone Scooter noticed Roland and his friends.
"Hey man! Sorry that Erin caused so much trouble for you guys. She ain't a bad person or nothing, just misguided." A pause, "really misguided… Anyway, you don't seem like you're from around here. What are you doing out here in the first place? Pandora ain't exactly a vacation spot."
"We're looking for the Vault," Roland answered.
"Oh, you too? You're as crazy as… never mind," he shook his head and leaned forward, "Look, you don't believe people runnin' around talkin' 'bout some magic door spwein' out treasure in the like, alright? Just get you killed."
Roland folded his arms. "Let's just say I find it something worth looking into, anyway, do you have any idea on who we can talk to that may be able to help?"
Scooter seemed to think for a moment, "well, right now Miss Pierce has travel restricted outside of New Haven right now and the rest of Rust Commons, you may want to see about talking to her about it."
He glanced over and saw Erin walk out of the building, "It looks like we'll be talking to the administrator now."
Erin looked drained when the Vault hunters approached, "What's your sentence?"
She frowned and scratched the side of her head, "A week of community service… on top of the hours I'd stacked up from my previous stunt which makes 630 hours of community service. And if I try anything underhanded to get out of it she'll double my sentence to 1260 hours of community service and on top of it throw me in a jail cell for three times that amount. I could get stuck in this town for a year… She… gave me the figures."
Roland laughed, "It really sucks to be you."
She sighed then put her hands on her hips, "I guess, if you need me I'll be at the clinic."
"Volunteer service?"
"Well, no, working at the clinic is my actual job. I'm one of the few people on Pandora that know how to treat serious wounds."
Roland was surprised, "you're a doctor?"
Erin did a snort and folded her arms, "pfft, no. I was just made to work there by Zed and Pierce because they knew I was good at it."
"I see, then Zed will definitely feel relieved that he won't be watching the New Haven Clinic on his own."
Her face fell suddenly as her arms dropped to her sides, "wait, Zed? He's here?" Erin began looking around in a panic.
"If I remember correctly he used the fast-travel to get here." Mordecai volunteered.
"Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking shit!" She crouched down, "tell him I died or something. Just don't tell him I'm here. Please?"
"Erin Durrand Ryder!"
The girl practically jumped three feet into the air at the sound of Dr. Zed's voice from across the street. Roland looked over to see the doctor storming over.
"You get your ass back in that clinic right now young lady! Do you hear me?!"
Erin began trotting over with a whimper. Mordecai began to laugh.
Roland gave him a look.
"What?"
The Soldier sighed, "let's just go meet Pierce."
They met with the leader of New Haven, Helena Pierce. They were taken aback for a moment by the scars on her face, but quickly got over it and explained their situation.
"There are more important things to do here than chase after some fairy tale, but if you insist upon my helping you on your mad quest, you're going to do a few things for me."
Yet another set of hoops to jump through so they could continue. But it was clear she was the one in power here, and they had no room for argument.
Pierce continued speaking, "A few days ago there was an electric storm that knocked out the power grid. Right now, I have Scooter working on the generators, but I need someone to recalibrate the lightning towers before this happens again. Also, there's a growing concern about what's happening in Tetanus Warren. That's where you come in. You've already met the town troublemaker, Erin Ryder. She'll fill you in on the details."
"If she knows what needs to be done, then why not have her take care of it?"
Pierce looked at Lilith and sighed, "Normally, I would have her take care of everything, but after all the trouble she's stirred up she's I've forbid her from stepping foot outside of New Haven, lest she cause even more problems."
"Why do you keep her around if she's so much trouble?" Roland asked, "I doubt this place needs it."
"If you want," Mordecai interjected, "we could 'take care' of her so she won't cause any problems ever again. Free of charge of course."
The woman folded her arms, "Unfortunately, she's one of the very few people here with an exceptional education, this coupled with her impulsive reckless behavior makes her a danger to herself and everyone around her. In some regards New Haven would be better off with her dead."
Mordecai began to smile, likely thinking his wish was soon to be granted.
Pierce narrowed her eyes at the hunter, "That being said, her medical knowledge makes her one of the most capable people here and doesn't change the fact that she's needed. We barely have enough medical help as is."
The hunter's smile fell. She continued," while I understand your offer it is not required, nor appreciated. I am responsible for all the people of New Haven, and that includes her. "
Mordecai was muttering something in another language when they left Pierce's office. Roland wished the hunter would let it go, but was certain he wouldn't, at least so long as they were in New Haven.
As she said, they found the girl in the clinic, a building slightly bigger than the one in Fyrestone, but no better equipped. She was in the middle of repairing a broken claptrap while Zed busied himself with a drunken patient.
"Oh, it's you," she said looking up when they walked in, "what did the boss say?"
"She said she won't help us with what we're looking for unless we help her first," Roland explained, telling her what Pierce had told them.
"Oh? What are you looking for here?"
"We're vault hunters."
She snorted, unimpressed "yeah? I thought so," she looked back down at the claptrap and pulled out a metal fragment, "People don't often come so willingly to this planet unless it's to get money or escape their planet's authorities."
Claptrap let off a short and Erin cursed, drawing her hand back and shaking it. She continued, "I can't count how many people who claim to be vault hunters I've met over the years. Don't last very long though. Typically, they get eaten by the local plants or animals within the first few weeks, on rare occasions they live long enough to give up and live quietly, "she began to chuckle, "that or they're followed by bounty hunters and are taken off planet."
The mention of bounty hunters make Roland uncomfortable, and he quickly changed the subject. They all knew not to let any of the locals know they were all wanted criminals with bounties in the millions, especially when they were in the middle of a town that needed money.
"Erin, we only came here so we can keep moving. What are the jobs in Tetanus Warrens that need to be taken care of and how do we recalibrate the lighting towers?"
Her smirk faded as she shut the back panel of the claptrap and watched it come back to life. It took one look at her and let out a squeak of fear before it rushed off. Erin stood, and placed a hand on her hip.
"There's a total of six lightning towers outside of New Haven, and they're easy to spot so long as you're not blind, as for how…" she shifted her weight and walked over to the desk on the far corner then scribbled down something on a piece of paper, "I'll write it down for you, it's actually quite simple, but a careful process. Make sure you do everything in order."
Erin handed the paper to Roland, who looked down at the paper and nodded.
"And the other two?"
"Well, let's see…" she shifted her weight and thought for a second, "They're both in the Tetanus Warren, a sort of underground maze of a scrapyard home to one 'King Wee Wee' and his many followers. One of them is to kill that midget. Rumor has it that he's planning on starting a war, which is bad news for us in New Haven. He's been amassing an army for weeks and he might be planning on using the caustic crystals in the cavern to get into the water supply. You'll want to grab his supply before his people can use them."
"Got it. Anything else we should know about?"
Erin walked over to a stack of boxes and picked them up, "just that you remember to keep an eye on your surroundings and try not to get killed.".
"If she's leading us into a trap with this…" Mordecai began as they left the walls of New Haven, "I'm gonna…"
"I don't think so. I don't think she has any reason to trap us." Roland said.
"You're kidding me? You don't actually trust what that little- "
"I don't trust her. Far from it. But for now, we need to lie low. I don't like her mentioning the possibility of bounty hunters on Pandora."
Mordecai growled and folded his arms.
None of them liked it. Especially with how she reacted when they told her they were looking for the vault. Unlike everyone else they've met so far; she didn't try and say that it didn't exist. It was more like she brushed it off, as if she didn't acknowledge them as even being skilled enough to simply live on the planet.
"Well, what now?" Brick asked, "I'm sick of waiting."
"It's not like we have time to stand here all day," Lilith agreed.
"We'll just complete the jobs we've been given, it's all we can do at this point."
The Vault hunters split the jobs between them in order to finish them faster. Brick and Mordecai were to calibrate the lightning towers around New Haven. While Lilith and Roland went to Tetanus Warrens to take care of King Wee Wee.
Mordecai and Brick studied the directions that Erin gave them and cursed.
"Son of a- we have to climb to the top of every goddamn tower. What bullshit is this? It's going to take forever!"
Brick looked up at the first tower they approached, not looking forward to the climb, then looked at the hunter, who was cursing and muttering under his breath. He thought for a moment, considering the smaller man, then had an idea.
"Hey Mordy, I think I have an idea to make this go faster."
[Erin]
"Alright… package to the Benny family delivered…. Check... Williams… check… the Hearts…" Erin glanced down at the clipboard and ticked off the box next to the name then glanced at her watch. She sighed and began to make her way to Scooter's shop. She glanced at the box with his name on it and cringed.
"Educational materials – my foot."
She glanced at her watch again, watching the seconds tick by at an agonizing slow pace. It hasn't even been thirty minutes and she was already bored. At the very least Pierce could have let Erin outside of the walls of New Haven for a little while. She had things to do. Her thoughts drifted to the group of travelers… Vault hunters… they called themselves. Heh, what a joke. Her bet, they would be dead by the end of the week.
Erin had met countless people claiming to be vault hunters, and nearly every single one of them died. Admittedly a few she had killed herself because they had begun to interfere with her work. Most of the ones who came to Pandora were criminals or bounty hunters that found out their mark had already died. Judging from the collective reaction of the four vault hunters, they were the former, likely being chased by the later. Oh well, no business of hers. She only wanted to know because bounty hunters tended to cause more trouble than the criminals they were after, which was another interference with her work.
When Erin approached the catch-a-ride, she paused. She saw Dreads and Muscles walking back into the town.
"We finished the Job," Muscles announced.
She glanced back at her watch. Thirty-five min, not too bad. She expected it'd take them at least an hour to complete the task.
"Huh, took you less time than I thought, color me impressed. I thought you'd get lost and eaten by sycthids."
Her comment was answered by a low growl from Dreads.
"Thank you." He looked like he had been thrown across the junkyard and back. Muscles on the other hand looked like he was in a good mood.
"You know, you could have mentioned that the switches were at the top of each and every tower." He continued, taking a step forward. Was he trying to intimidate her? Well, he did look like a skeleton wrapped in a skin bag with hair, so she could see how he might be a little unsettling.
"Oh?" she formed what she hoped looked like a confused expression, "Well why didn't you use the remote starter I gave you guys?" There was no remote starter. Though she could have easily made one if they asked. Oh well.
"A… Remote… Starter?"
She nodded then gasped dramatically, "Oh no! I must have forgotten to give it to you. Silly me." She shook her head in feigned apology, "don't tell me you climbed each and every one."
Dreads was beginning to shake, clearly trying to keep from screaming.
"I… Didn't…" He pointed a shaking finger at Muscles, "He… threw me…"
Oh. My. God. She covered her mouth to keep from laughing and failed.
"Seriously?" She waved her hand, trying to get a hold of herself and looked up at Muscles, "Please tell me you threw him like a spear because that would be badass."
Muscles, seeming to enjoy her reaction, grinned. "Want a demonstration?"
She wanted to say yes, except she did catch a faint glint of cunning in the oversized body builder's eyes and forced herself to decline. Smarter than he looks. Got it. She was certain in this case; she would be the spear. Not Dreads.
"As much as I would love that, I still have work to do. Perhaps another time?"
Muscles looked disappointed. As did Dreads. Aw… did they plan on getting some payback? That's cute.
The skinny Vault Hunter wannabe shook his head and threw his arms up, "regardless, the job's done. You going to pay us?"
She wondered when they were going to ask. Erin nodded her head toward Pierce's office.
"The boss will have your payment."
"Why didn't you say that to begin with?"
"You didn't ask."